Christ Follower, Husband, Father, Writer
My #dontbreakthechain calendar as it looked on 10 JUNE 214
**Editors Note**
I wrote this back in June so some of the numbers and dates are old but the sentiment is the same. I took me this long to pull the trigger on posting this because I had grown so comfortable with the My 500 crew and was hesitent – to say the least – about making any changes.
God Bless you All
MickHolt
I don’t talk much about my time in the Marine Corps. It is not a particularly easy time for me because I see it as one of my biggest failures – and that is saying a lot. So, every year I struggle with feelings of guilt and remorse on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. There are other times during the year that these feeling overwhelm me but especially on these two days I feel the most regret for not completing my tour when I was a Marine while so many others not only completed theirs but died in the process.
**NOTE** Not only is today National Star Wars day – May the Fourth be with you – it is also the one year anniversary of mickholt.com. I have learned a lot over the last year but still struggle with some questions – as you’ll read below. Thank you, to everyone that reads PADAG regularly, has read in the past or will be reading this for the first time – I hope you find something of value here and if so, I would love if you joined in – or started – the conversation below. Be blessed and I look forward to building this community.
Y’all keep the acorn spinnin’
#dontbreakthechain
**
Ecclesiastes 3: 1- 8 (KJV)
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Photo from Noli Noli
God has spoken to me in the past – not audibly but I could hear him in my heart. I have talked and written about that in the past.
The first time he told me that I had built a wall around my heart and I was not allowing him to enter – then he told me how to change that. I walked out of church that morning drove home and did what I was told.
The next time was a year or so later and I was struggling to find my lace in his will – or as I like to say , finding His will for my life. The thing is though, that I was not doing anything. Rather, I was spinning my wheels doing nothing waiting, as I have said for God to speak to me through a burning bush or a billboard or – and I really looked for these too – scripture references in license plates. I wish I was making that up.
You know because God always hides messages out in the open for you to see if you really want to find them, right?
I was sitting on the floor going through a box of old comic books; wrapped up in a story lines of mutants falling in love, fighting and just being cool. I was enraptured by the lines and shadows in the corners, the details on the faces of some of my all time favorite heroes. The depth of emotions that are conveyed in nothing more than a cartoon. Only that’s not right is it? They’re not just cartoons are they? They’re an art form, epic, masterful, enduring.
For a few minutes I was a kid again. Nothing in my life more important than finishing this comic and moving on to see what was happening in another part of the universe. For a few minutes.
Cancer sucks.
No, I have never had it but I can tell you it sucks. I have watched if fought from the sidelines. I have been a part of the support system, oh, I am in the cast but I have never had the lead and I would be lying if I said I wanted the starring role. But it has lived in my house so I feel well equipped to write on this topic.
So, I can say without reservation that having cancer sucks – for everyone involved.
How much time do you spend beating yourself up for things you wish you had done? Or things you wished you’d done differently? Or things you’d wished you’d never done? Or, or, or…
That guy you dated for WAY too long, the girl you dumped WAY too soon, a class you wanted to take, a movie you wanted to see maybe you zigged when you should have zagged? I bet you have your own that you’re already thinking about.
I have not been very focused on PADAG recently. It is not that my interest in helping people find their way to God’s will has waned but to be perfectly honest, I have been so attuned to my own purpose that writing for this space has taken a back seat. This blog and all of you are on my mind all the time but my attention has been on other kinds of writing.
As today – last Friday by the time you read this – is Valentine’s Day, I thought I should write about all things love and romance.
Then I thought naawwwww, instead I am going to take this to a place it was never meant to go – the Christians,
What?
Home of the Writers Mastermind for Fiction Writers
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
On Writing, Ideas, and Making a Difference
Daily Thoughts and Meditations as we journey together with our Lord.
Mick Holt 